


Genesis

by Happy_Loner_Mushroom



Series: Unknown [1]
Category: Black Panther (2018)
Genre: Cousin Incest, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Happy ending though, I Will Go Down With This Ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-29 21:21:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13935672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Happy_Loner_Mushroom/pseuds/Happy_Loner_Mushroom
Summary: Tell me, babyWhen they gave us lifeDid they maybeCrown me as your wife?-Ravyn LenaeShuri hates being wrong.More than that, she hates not understanding.So that's why, when Erik tells her that's not his name, curiosity overcomes her more than anything; his gaze still lasting on her brain that night as she tries to sleep.





	Genesis

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [till i lie with you](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13762185) by [thefudge](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefudge/pseuds/thefudge). 



> Fic is inspired by Ravyn Lenae's "Genesis." I highly recommend giving it a listen, especially while reading this. 
> 
> I was also inspired to write this after reading thefudge's "till i lie with you." Definitely check that out, because their fic is 10x better lol. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

Shuri hates being wrong.

More than that, she hates not understanding.

So that's why, when Erik tells her that's not his name, curiosity overcomes her more than anything; his gaze still lasting on her brain that night as she tries to sleep.

*

As the fight continues, Shuri forgets that curiosity. Instead, her mind is consumed by the dread of how the fight is most likely going to end.

Shuri is nothing if not logical, and she forces herself to face the growing probability that her brother isn't going to win this.

There is nothing she can do though, not when traditions force her to be grudgingly passive.

But not passive enough to scream out for her brother’s mercy as Erik is about to deliver the final blow.

It does nothing though. Erik looks up to her for a split second, and Shuri thinks she sees a glint in his eye.

Something she can't understand as he tosses the body over the waterfall.

Shuri turns to her hysterical mother and Nakia. There is only one thing to be done now.

“Nakia, please, take mama. Find safety.”

“What about you?” Nakia looks at her through confused, tear-filled eyes.

It is not a sight Shuri has ever seen on the woman, and it tugs something in her to know it is for her own brother.

“I will stay. Do what I can from here. If you come back, find me.”

Nakia nods in understanding and takes Ramonda away after one last brief hug from Shuri.

“Hey, where you going, Auntie?”

Shuri turns her attention back to Erik. Her eyes harden at the sight of the triumphant smirk upon his face.

“Leave her alone. She is useless to you now.”

“Yet you're staying, princess?”

“How else do you expect to access all the precious technology you're after?”

She wants to throttle him. To shake out that smugness he always seems to carry. But she knows she has to play her cards right. Just in case.

He laughs at her as if he's read her mind. Then he's coming towards her, reaching for her, and dragging her towards the edge of the waterfall.

“You think there's any chance you're bro is gonna survive that? You think you can stop me now?”

Shuri feels tears begin to form as a silence overcomes them. She knows she's letting him get to her.

That can't happen though, because she doesn't know what she'll do if she allows herself to believe her brother is truly gone.

Nonetheless, the tears come. The sobs erupt, and Shuri can all but begin to thrash against the arms that capture her.

She beats his chest as he holds her tighter. Their bodies are flush against each other, separated by only their soaked layers of clothing.

She loses any ability to discern what he is thinking as she cries even harder in his arms.

*

The guards lead her back to her quarters.

Once she's alone, she does her best to compose herself. Before Erik figures out all the inner workings of the palace, which Shuri knows won't take long, she has to contact Nakia.

They decide on meeting during the spiritual awakening. It is the only time Shuri can be sure Erik won't be paying attention.

When it is time for the ceremony, Shuri steps out of her chambers in the proper attire, and finds Erik waiting for her.

He smirks as he looks her up and down.

“What are you doing here?”

“I thought we'd head to the ceremony together. Might as well start getting to know each other. After all, I'll be needing you for a while. At least until I get a hang of things.” His smiles at her even bigger.

Shuri says nothing as she begins to walk, aware of the inherent threat in his words. He joins her side, but they remain in silence the whole way.

*

During the ceremony, she feels Nakia’s presence lurking behind her.

As soon as they begin to bury Erik, Shuri plucks off one of the herbs, and passes it to Nakia just as swiftly. Just in case.

She feels the other woman grab her hand one last time. Shuri squeezes it in recognition: the last comfort she expects to have for a long time.

*

By the time Erik awakens, Nakia is long gone, and Shuri has moved herself closer to the burial. She kneels by his side the moment he springs back to their world.

He is manic. His pants animalistic, and his body rigid in a stance ready to fight.

Shuri does not wane. She wrestles with him until she's got one forearm clasped to her chest, and her face is inches from his.

“Breathe. Just breathe.”

Her eyes widen once he stills, because his eyes are glassy and there is a wetness on his cheeks.

She looks away when recognition of what she is staring at comes into his eyes, and she releases him from her grip.

The curiosity returns, because Shuri is reminded that she does not understand him.

*

He orders all the heart-shaped herbs to be burned.

There is a silence that befalls the room after the command. A stillness that Shuri knows will only anger him.

And it does.

“Do I look like I'm kidding? I want that shit gone.”

“But my King, this cannot be allowed to-”

He snatches the high priestess by the throat, and Shuri feels a hatred burn in her at the sight. Nevertheless, she moves to grab one of the lit torches.

“When I tell you to do something, I _mean_  that shit.”

“Erik!” Shuri yells loud enough for him to turn towards her.

She lowers the torch to the flower bed without hesitation, the flames catching instantly.

There's almost something of a smile on his lips as he commands for the rest to be burned.

She glares at him as he stands in the center of it all. At some point, his eyes catch hers, and they do not let go.

*

He insists on her joining him for dinner the same night. It's a private affair with just the two of them, and the guards standing outside.

They sit close, not out of necessity, but because the seating has been placed that way.

Shuri is not sure what he has planned for her, but she knows he already has some ideas in store.

“You'll be joining me in my first public appearance in two days. I'll have your wardrobe prepared by then.”

She pauses her sip at the announcement, but only nods before continuing to take a drink from her glass.

“Oh, and you'll have go walk me through your lab tomorrow. I expect a full run through of all your systems and inventions.”

She lifts a brow at that. “Are you sure you'll be able to understand?”

The comment slips out before she can stop herself, but her regret is short lived when he just smirks at her.

“I think you're forgetting I do have some schooling when it comes to tech, princess. Perhaps you underestimate me.”

She glares at him instead of returning his amusement. It was a fact she had forgotten about him, and it was another reminder that she did not understand him.

*

The tour exceeds Shuri’s expectations.

She expected to find herself becoming enraptured in discussing her inventions. Which she does.

But she did not expect Erik to be just as interested. Which he is.

It is more than just a base level desire for weapons of mass-destruction too. She can see it in his eyes. He wants to learn. To understand.

He asks her questions, smart ones too.

“So how do you counteract the weight of the body then?”

“Well, it took me a couple of attempts, but I finally figured out that…”

As she explains, Shuri keeps her eyes trained on his face. His hand is on his chin, and he squints at her invention as if he is actually taking in what she is saying.

By the time she returns to her quarters, Shuri is already trying to forget the whole thing. It makes her feel too many things, too many incongruent things.

There is almost a pleasant happiness at having such a passionate conversation.

Then there is an anger, frustration, and confusion. All because she does not understand how she could engage in an interaction like that with the same man who killed her brother and ruined her life.

It forces tears out of her, and Shuri screams into her pillow until her voice is hoarse.

*

The next day, she finds herself unable to enter her lab. After about the fifth attempt at breaking the code, she storms into the throne room in search of Erik.

He looks at her with an expectant smirk.

“How did you get pass my encryptions?”

There isn't any room to be angry. She doesn't even care to address the necklace that sits on his neck. She doesn't feel anything but a fierce desire to understand.

“Want me to show you, princess?”

Her glare hardens at his taunt, but the feeling of anger evades her.

“Please.”

He doesn't say anything more. Instead, he gets up, and they walk back to her lab. He let's them in, and finds a seat at her desk.

She almost gawks as he takes out and slips on a pair of glasses.

He does not even look at her as he states, “I swear you don't wanna know what'll happen if you tell anyone about the specs.”

She stares at him until he gets into his explanation.

The session is informative, and she wonders why he gives up what her weaknesses are when they could come in handy. At the end, she asks just that.

“Because I'm not trying to fight you, coz,” he tells her as he stands to face her.

It is the first time he has ever reminded her that they are related, and it stings with the reminder of all that he has done to her. Her gaze hardens as he places his hands on her shoulders. His eyes are heavy on her and hold something serious in them.

“No matter what, I am blood of your blood. You'll understand that someday.”

Her eyes widen at the statement, and she pushes him away.

*

At the public appearance, he forces her to take his arm.

He's put her in a gown and jewelry fit for someone like her mother, and she wants nothing more than to tear his eyes out.

He is making a statement of who she'll be in his new order.

“Smile, because I'm sure there are loved ones you can still hurt.”

Another threat that erases any of the curiosity Shuri has for him. She is sick with her own rage and disgust.

*

The first week soon passes into the second week, then third.

Then it has been a month, and Shuri realises to her horror how she is getting used to her new life.

Erik has allowed her to continue working in her lab, but observes her most days.

She isn't even sure what she would try to do if he wasn't watching her every move. With her brother dead, and her mother and friend gone, she could not actually find many reasons to rebel against Erik.

He has the whole kingdom under his thumb. The public appearances only prove the people's approval of their new king, and Shuri begins to doubt that he had needed to feed them any lies to convince them.  

She couldn't deny some of flaws in their antiquated traditions. Like allowing a man to die by the hands of someone clearly unfit to be king.

Except now she is forced to question how unfit he is.

*

The days she is not in the lab are the days Erik asks her to advise him.

She stands beside him in the throne room as meetings with the tribal elders continue.  

She has to admit the experience is humbling. The more she listens to the issues discussed, the more it seems she has kept her head too deep in the sand of her lab. There are issues she is forced to face for the first time along with Erik.

“It's better this way. Another fresh pair of eyes to look at the problem,” he tells her.

It only makes that all too familiar curiosity arise in her. Yet, the feeling seems to be coming less and less.

*

It is two months after her brother’s death, and Shuri wakes up today already knowing that. The truth hangs like a heavy rain cloud around her all day.

Her nightmare had been filled with a replay of the ritual combat between T’chaka and Erik.

Except it was different.

She had been cheering for Erik. Her cheers were for his name, his  _true_  name, and she had found herself with a smile by his side when the whole thing was over.

She is startled awake. Her eyes meet matching dark ones as something solid and warm encloses her.

Erik sits by her side on the bed. His usual hard gaze is still present, yet somehow softer.

She can do nothing but stare at him in shock and horror. A disgust creeps into her, and she isn't sure if it's for Erik or herself.

“We’re going out, coz. Be ready in twenty.”

His arms soon leave her sides, and she is further horrified at the feeling of somehow losing his security.

As Erik opens the door, he pauses and turns to her. Their eyes meet. Shuri isn't sure she wants to hear what he is going to say.

“Nightmares mean something, coz.” There's no smile or smirk apparent on his face as he speaks. “They’re the reason I am where I'm at today.”

Shuri feels rage boiling in her for the comment. He  _is_ her nightmare.

He slams the door shut before the pillow hits his head.

*

They take the train into the city.

There is something wrong about sitting next to Erik in such a common and public setting. Something so domestic, so normal.

No matter what title he holds now, Shuri knows none of it changes his humble beginnings. Perhaps it’s not wrong to see him sit so calm beside her; it just makes her more curious.

Had he been like this when he was growing up alone in a completely different continent? What would he have been like if he had grown up here? Would they have been close the way she was close with her brother?

Something about the thought gives her goosebumps, and makes the reminder of what she has lost even more evident.

None of it matters, because this is her reality.

Shuri looks out the window. The arm Erik has carelessly draped over the seat behind her shoulders annoys her.

Just for today, she does not want to understand.

*

They are meeting with people all day again, but Shuri’s mind refuses to stay present.

Everywhere she goes is another memory of what she's lost.

Erik does not bother her more than necessary. It's been two months since he took over, and he has become fluent in their language and well-versed in their history. To the point that it is difficult to tell he is not a true native.

They call him King J’adaka, son of N’Jobu.

Shuri still calls him Erik, but he has not asked her to call him anything else. Yet.

After a whole day of meeting with people, Erik leads them up a mountain trail instead of back to the palace.

“Why are we here?”

She slips on a rock along the trail, but strong hands grip her hips and steady her.

“Something I've always needed to see,” Erik whispers quietly into her ear. He releases her, and continues ahead of her.

It takes Shuri a few seconds before she can move again. His focus is oddly narrow, and he powers through the steep climb up with a determination that forces out Shuri’s curiosity.

Her eyes stay trained on Erik’s back as he reaches the clearing on top of the hill. He walks until he is almost at the edge of the cliffside of the mountain, then stops.

And Shuri realises what they've come for.

It seems like another piece fitting into place as he looks out to the changing sky with a triumphant stance and heavy pants that show all the work and sacrifice it's taken him to get here.

To Shuri, watching the sunset feels like watching the world collapse around her. It is crumbling under this one man, and becoming something dark and incomprehensible.

She moves to stand next to him anyways. His hand immediately grasps hers.

They watch in silence as the sun lowers itself into the horizon, and the sky begins to turn itself shades of pink and purple.

There is something so pleasant about the scene: as they stand, side by side, to face the unstoppable.

The whole things brings tears, and when Shuri looks up from blinking away the wetness, the sun is gone. The sky is cooling into a deep blue.

Erik releases her hand, and turns to face her.

“Hit me.”

Somehow, the statement brings on more tears; ones that are shed for the all the incongruencies that fill her life.

“Hit me as much as you need, Shuri.”

It is the way he says her name that spurs her on till she is shoving and punching at him with all her might. The tears fall freely, and her screams are loud.

She keeps going until they are on the ground, with her on top of him. The punches keep meeting his cheeks, but Shuri watches as Erik does not so much as wince. Even as his cheek turns purple, and a red blooms on his bottom lip.

He watches her with a patience she realises will never go away. It is a patience only given to those who've spent their whole lives waiting.

“I hate you! I hate you! I hate y-” she chokes on the last one, completely exhausted by her efforts. Her body hovers over him with her heel of her palms pressed into the ground around his head.

“I know, princess. I'm the bad guy in your world, I know,” he says, and Shuri believes the understanding in his eyes. He understands her more than she will possibly ever understand him.

His hands gently press on top of her own. Shuri can see the stars pepper the sky by the time they get up.

*

They sit in silence on the train ride back to the palace. Shuri stares at nothing out the window, and she can feel the heat coming off of Erik at the place where their sides press together. It lulls her to sleep.

It is easy to fall asleep later, but Shuri wakes up in the middle of the night.

He sits beside her on the bed. His hand reaches out to stroke her cheek. She remains still and silent as he continues to study her.

“I'm not asking for forgiveness, princess. I just hope you will understand someday. I am blood of your blood.”

She doesn't know if he is aware she's awake. It doesn't matter though as he gets up, and leaves her in silence after that.

Shuri goes back to sleep, and has no more dreams.

*

“Erik, stop messing with that! You're going to hurt yourself, dummy.”

Shuri watches with hands on her hips as he performs skateboard tricks on the hoverboard. He looks up at her with a cocky smile.

“Relax, princess. I'm fine.”

It has been another month with him, with this life. She has been sleeping better.

“I think your problem’s in the fuel output,” he says as he sets the board down on her work table.

“Yes, I'm aware, but if I make the output higher, the whole thing short circuits.”

A hand goes to his chin in contemplation. For a month now, Shuri has accepted his presence in her lab. Not that he hadn’t already been messing with her projects and voicing his suggestions before that, but now she acknowledges it.

“How about you let me work on the board for the night? I think I might have a solution to your problem.”

Shuri turns to the other project on her work table.

“As long as you don't break it.”

“Don't worry, I'll show you, princess.”

*

They ride up to the cliff of the mountain on the hoverboards the next day. Shuri picks at the grass around her, and Erik sits still beside her. They had both wrestled when they first got up there. Now, with their breathing evened out, they sit calm next to each other.

“Pops used to talk about the sunsets here all the time. It was the thing I always wanted to see most.”

Her hands still at his words. She looks up at him and does her best to hide what she is feeling: the anger, the sadness, the curiosity.

“Does it live up to everything you thought it'd be?”

His eyes are trained on the oncoming sunset as he continues.

“It does, but I think there's more to it than I ever thought there'd be.”

For the next hour, as the world crumbles into darkness around them, Shuri listens to Erik. He tells her about Oakland, about the ugly childhood filled with group homes and foster parents, about the careful years of planning, about all the anger that drove him.

Something within her dims at his confessions. When he is done, Shuri tells him about growing up in Wakanda. About everything wonderful, and everything bad.

It astonishes her how she finds she can talk about memories of her brother without any tears pooling from her eyes anymore. She tells him about how they used to compete over everything, and how she teased him endlessly about his big fat crush on Nakia. She tells him about her adventures with her brother getting her into trouble with their parents.

“My mother always scolded me, because she knew I was the mastermind behind every single one of our plans.”

Erik gives her a dimpled smile. “I don’t doubt that, princess.”

She tells him about her beginnings in inventing, and her eyes do not shed tears when she tells him how her brother was her first supporter. They light up when she talks about her first inventions, and she senses she's managed to impress him.

She admits the way their traditions stifled her.

He snorts. “Well, princess, shouldn’t you be thanking me then? For changing all that shit?”

Her expected response is to snap at him, to tear into him about how he has ruined her life, but instead she gives him a doleful look.

“I I don’t know anymore.”

He accepts her answer without any spite written across his face, just a dutiful nod as if he understands.

When they finally go back, Shuri finds there are no more questions she wants to ask him. The bittersweet taste lingers in her thoughts, and she does not sleep that night.

*

“Wake up.”

She is shaken by an insistent hand on her shoulder. She opens her eyes to see Erik standing over her bed, and she gives a tired groan.

“Pack your things. We’re going on a trip.”

She sits up at his words. He does not move any distance but to remove his hand from her shoulder. He looks at her with a knowing smile. It annoys her.

“What? Where are we going? How long?” There is a slight panic in her voice that she can’t get rid of.

His hand rests on her knee as he, no doubt, continues to enjoy her confusion. “Relax, princess. We’re just going to California for a little while.”

She smacks his arm away from her body.

“How long is a ‘little while?’”

“At least a week, but if we stay more you can always just buy whatever you need.”

She does not try to hide her confusion or panic now. “I don’t understand. Why are we going?”

“Because I said so,” he tells her with an impatience this time. He gets off the bed, but continues as he moves toward the door. “Now get your ass movin’, or I’ll move it for you.”

He slams the door behind him as always. Shuri’s shoulders slump at the reverberation.

*

They stand in the basketball courts in front of an apartment building. Shuri’s eyes can’t help but to look around her in curiosity. As far as her eyes can see the area is run-down: graffiti covers walls, trash litters the ground, and there is a rust to almost every metal surface.

“We’re in Oakland,” she says to herself.

“That’s right, princess. Take a good look at my childhood,” Erik say. He comes up behind her, his chest slightly pressed to her backside.

She turns to him, and there are emotions on his face that he can’t hide from her anymore. It's clear he's affected in some way by the place.

“Why are we here, Erik?”

He doesn’t answer her immediately. Instead, he begins to walk towards the apartment building.

“I need to get something.”

“This place is condemned, though,” she states as they walk into the building.

“It has been for over seven years now.”

She looks at the staircase with suspicion. The wood underneath the paint shows in almost every step, and there are cracks throughout. Erik begins to climb them without hesitation, and Shuri follows with a huff.

Erik breaks the knob of the apartment’s door with ease, but finally shows a sign of hesitation in entering the place.

Shuri watches him with bated breath. That curiosity arises again. She follows when he enters at last, and takes in the abandoned state of the place.

Erik looks around the room. There's a glint in his eye that tugs at something within her, something she wasn't aware of until that moment.

He silently kneels and lifts up a loose floor board. In the dark space beneath it sits a tin cookie box, dusty from years of neglect. Erik pulls it out, and blows the dust off the top.

Shuri watches in silence as he opens it. Within the box, there is a couple of pictures, some papers with writing on them, and a single diamond ring that shines in the sunlight pouring through the broken windows.

Erik looks at the items for a long time. He moves them around in his hand, and Shuri feels like she's just learned something new about the man.

Satisfied with the contents, he soon closes the box and gets up.

“You hungry, princess?” He asks her. As if he did not just have a moment there.

Shuri nods, unable to find her words quite yet. He takes the response anyways, and they exit the apartment without looking back.

As she descends the staircase, Shuri hears one of the wooden steps underneath her foot snap. Before she is able to even attempt to grab the railing, Erik’s arms catch her.

“Woah there, princess. Don't go falling for me that fast,” he says, and Shuri can practically feel the smirk he's got.

“If anything, this means I’d fall for staircases faster than I’d fall for you. That's right, inanimate objects trump you!”

His hands make a move to pinch her sides, but Shuri does her best to squirm out of the tickle. Something almost like a giggle almost escapes her as he chases her down the rest of the way.

*

He takes her to a diner that she knows must have been another common part of his childhood from the way he eyes the place.

She actually feels an excitement overcome her as the waitress leaves them. It is so obvious that he questions her about it.

“I've always wanted to try a cheeseburger! It's so quintessentially American.”

Erik snorts, but has on an amused smile. They sit in silence for a time, before Shuri decides to try questioning him again about their impromptu trip.

“So, are you ever going to actually explain to me what we're doing here?”

“Do I even need to? I thought you’d be smart enough to figure it out on your own, princess.”

She rolls her eyes. “I understand you came to get that, which must be mementos from your childhood. I just don't understand why else we need to be here for a week.”

“You really in a rush to get back?”

She's almost surprised that he is genuinely asking her what she wants, but he waits with a furrowed brow.

“No, I suppose I'm not.”

Erik does not reply immediately. Instead, he slowly opens the box and shuffles through its contents again. His eyes remain focused on them as he answers.

“These were some of my mom’s things. Photos of us, letters from pop, and her wedding ring.”

He takes out the ring, and rolls it around in his hand. The light glistens off of the small stone.

“What a ridiculous notion that people have been fighting for thousands of years for hunks of rock like this and gold,” he tells her as if as an afterthought.

He looks up at her, and leans across the table to grab her left hand. She feels a shiver up her spine as he places the jewelry on her ring finger.

“Erik,” she says without any bite or any real reason.

He slips off the ring, and plops it back into the box without another word.

She looks up at him with wide eyes, which he only returns with his hardened ones.

Their food comes eventually, and Shuri takes the opportunity to let her excitement over her food conceal her other emotions.  

*

It turns out that Erik has decided he wants to show her Oakland. They are staying for a week, so he can show her the sights: the good and the bad.

None of the Dora Milaje accompany them on this trip. Erik insisted they go alone, and he has occupied Okoye with mobilising in the last few months anyways.

But because there is no guards with them, they stay in one room, so Erik can keep an eye on her.

It doesn't bother Shuri as she thought it would. They manage to stay out of each other's hair within the first night, and the only reason Shuri is unable to sleep is because they keep binge-watching TV and chatting about random things.

*

By the end of the week, Shuri understands why Erik wanted to show her Oakland.

He wanted her to see what he was talking about. What his father had been fighting against, and the reason he is king.

Shuri finds it is that much harder to reason against him. But she knows, whatever Erik is planning must happen eventually. This peace has to end at some point.

That’s when she’ll have to choose.

*

On their final night in Oakland, Shuri wakes up in the middle of the night to the sound of labored breathing and grunts.

She gets out of her bed, and approaches Erik’s to find that he's mumbling something incoherent. There's a deep crease in his brow and his fists are curled.

Shuri realises he is having a nightmare.

Her hand grips his shoulder as she tries to wake him up.

“Erik…Erik…wake up!”

The movement happens too quickly for her to react. He sits up, arms reaching out reflexively, and a smack comes across her lip so hard that she feels her teeth cluck together. A sharp pain tears into her lip, and she stumbles away from the bed.

“Where…wh-where am-” He doesn't finish the sentence before realising what’s happened.

Shock is written on his face only for a split second. Then his eyes harden at Shuri, and he storms out of the room before she can stop him.

*

Shuri does not see him again until she wakes up the next morning.

He packs in silence as she sits up slowly. Her eyes are trained on him, and try to gauge a reaction.

He looks up at her when he finishes folding his shirt. Shuri can't read what his expression means, but he grabs something off the table and moves towards her.

“Stay still,” he says as he uncaps the now visible tube of ointment in his hand.

She does so. His other hand is a gentle pressure holding her head upwards. He leans in closer to her, eyes on the split of her lip.

“Well, it's scabbed over so that's something. You're gonna wanna keep it hydrated and apply this ointment every couple of hours.”

He dabs the thick, oily substance onto the wound, and Shuri is mesmerized by the contact.

When he finishes, he keeps his hand still on her chin, and their eyes meet again.

“Sorry,” he says barely above a whisper.

Lips are pressed against lips after that. He is gentle as ever, and Shuri wants to laugh at the incongruency of him being so careful. She can't though. The cut on her lip would split open if she tried, and she also feels like crying.

She isn't sure who leaned in first, but it doesn't matter. The point is they both did eventually.

They come apart, but only briefly. Her hands move to cling to his shirt, and his hands wrap around her neck.

She pulls him back in.

The kiss is heated, teeth and tongues clashing, and there’s more wrestling now as he pushes her down till her back meets the mattress again.

*

After a while longer, he finally pulls away from her.

“Come on, princess. We can continue this when we get back, but we should get going soon.”

She nods, breathless.

She never asks him what his nightmare was the night before.

*

The flight back to Wakanda is pleasant. They talk tech and anything else on their minds.

They don’t talk about what’s just happened. They don't need to talk about it.

Shuri thinks that this is what their relationship has been leading up to, and only now does she realise what he's always known.

The happy bubble is burst as soon as they get through the border to Wakanda. She can see the fleet of planes lined up by the palace, and her heart sinks.

She understands, but she can't agree, even if she wants to.

Erik notes her silence when they get off the plane. His hands move to her jaw, and they trace unseen patterns in her skin. She’s not surprised he already knows her thoughts.

“Mark my words, princess. I hope you understand, if I had my way, you’d be my major plan.”

And she does understand.

He’s spent his whole life waiting for this. A sick part of her sides with him even. A side of her that says her brother’s death, her family’s separation, all of it, is a waste if he does not succeed. All of it was pointless unless he does this.

*

Her brother’s return comes as an even bigger surprise than his defeat had. Her breath catches at the sight of T’Challa. Alive, and with Nakia beside him.

The old hardened gaze has returned to Erik’s profile as if it never left. He calls out commands, and the guards begin to move.

He turns to her. His hands grasp hers, and she realises she is wrong. The eyes are not hard at all, and they boar into her with the urgency of a last time.

“This is how it ends, then?” She shakes her head at him.

His mouth almost forms a smile. He presses his forehead to hers, and whispers his response.

“I know you understand, princess. And that’s all I can ask for.”

Then they are kissing hard, before he pulls away.

With that, he’s gone. She feels an odd weight on her left hand, and finds his mom’s diamond on her ring finger.

The battle rages on.

*

She leads Everett through the process of destroying the fleets transporting the weapons.

She fights side by side with Nakia.

She is loyal to her brother.

Okoye joins their party after the battle ends, and they go in search of the two panthers.

She screams as they arrive to see her brother deliver the final blow, and she runs over to them without hesitation.

“I never wanted to make you cry for me, princess. So don’t,” Erik groans out, harsh and soft at the same time.  

She shakes her head. The tears fall without restraint, and her hands move over the wound.

“But I-I can fix you!”

He doesn’t say anymore as he loses consciousness. Her words are repeated in a panic as she attempts to get up and carry him. T’Challa calls out her name.

She can’t care about her brother’s opposition, or the horror and confusion her friends hold for her now.

He is dying, and she can save him.

So she finally looks up at her brother when he stops her by the shoulder, and she does not hide her desperation or her grief.

“Please, please. Brother, if there was ever a mistake to not make, it would be this one. Do not let this man be abandoned again,” she begs as her hands squeeze his.

T’Challa’s eyes move from his sister’s tear-streaked face to the shiny, small stone on her left hand. Shuri slumps in on herself further as silence continues.

“Come on. We each grab him by a shoulder.”

*

She puts him in a healing pod with T’Challa’s help. The moment she finishes stabilizing Erik, she collapses to sit. Her breathing is still hitched, and she does her best to stop crying.

T’Challa stands in front of her, and when she finally looks up at him, she sees a mixture of emotions: confusion, anger, sadness. She almost wants to laugh at the role reversal.

“Thank you, brother,” she says as she gets up to embraces him. “I have missed you.”

Her brother is silent until they pull apart. His eyes are downcast, and she knows he must be studying the ring.

“What is he to you?”

“He is blood of my blood,” she tells him without hesitation, squeezing his hands to comfort him.

He looks her in the eyes, in search of some sort of lie. When he finds none, he says, “I do not know what has happened while I was gone, but I think it is time I try to talk with Erik again.”

Shuri nods. They are both silent after that, because they both must face the undeniable truth that he has lost his sister in some way today.

*

As the days go by, there is a fear in Shuri that Erik might not wake up. She knows it's irrational with the technology they possess, but she worries he won't wake up anyways.

She worries he will wake up.

He'll wake up, and hate her for what she’s done. That he'll find no glory in her begging for his survival.

Her mind does not stop, so she distracts herself with all the unfinished projects Erik suggested improvements for on their last ride back to Wakanda.

It does not stop her eyes from flicking back to his pod every fifteen minutes like clockwork.

*

It is difficult to get into the swing of things with her brother as king again.

She spends most of her time in the lab, and watching over Erik’s progress. She is not hiding, but she knows it will be difficult for them.

“What has that man done to you, my child?”

Her mother looks at her with a sorrow and concern that Shuri shakes her head at.

“Nothing, mama. He has done nothing, but I have understood. I do not mean to forgive him for what he's done, but…he is blood of my blood.”

Her mom takes it the best. She hugs Shuri close to her chest and sighs acceptance.

*

Her brother is harder to convince. He skirts around her, and restrains himself when he is around her. She knows there are things he wants to say and ask, but she does not push him.

“How is he doing?” He asks her after entering her lab.

“He’s fine. It will take a while longer, because of the severity of the wound. But he should be awake within the next few weeks.”

Her brother is silent for a long beat. His eyes glare at the floor.

Something in her snaps at the sight. She stands up, and crosses the distance to stand in front of him.

“Okay, out with it,” she orders, hands on her hips.

He looks up at her, and she sees his skepticism.

“I just don’t understand. How could he sway you so easily?”

Shuri sighs, and she can feel the tough mask on her crack.

She doesn’t want to hide anything from her brother.

“I thought you were gone…I thought mama was gone. I didn’t have a desire to run, or rebel…because it didn’t feel like there was a point anymore knowing you were gone. So, I chose to change, because it was that or die. I chose to understand…because at the very least, I could accept some part of your death knowing what it was for.”

T’Challa nods his head when she is finished, but leaves the lab in silence. For a long time, Shuri stares towards where her brother exited. She wonders if he will return, or if she should chase after him.

She goes back to her work in the end.

*

“I know you may not forgive me when you wake up, but I hope you understand why I could not let you go.”

Shuri sits by the pod as she does during many of her breaks. Her head is in her hands. Her mind is in those thoughts of Erik finally waking up.

“Princess, I think we're just getting started,” a voice whispers.

She gasps, and her eyes look up to meet his. They are barely open. He moves restlessly though, and that is enough to get her scrambling closer to him.

“Don't move so much. You still need to rest, idiot.”

“Bossy right off the bat, princess. Can't say I expected any less from you,” he says with the corners of his mouth turned upwards.

She smiles back as tears begin to form.

“Don't I get a kiss for being so brave with all these injuries?”

Her laugh gets muffled by the kiss she gives him.

  
_But I think I want you_  
_For a thousand, for a thousand_  
_And I think I've loved you_  
_For a thousand, for a thousand_  
_A thousand years, a thousand years_  
_A thousand years_

**Author's Note:**

> I might do an accompanying piece from Erik's perspective that also follows what happens after this, because I already have some ideas for it. I don't know. We'll see how this one goes, because this could just be trash haha.


End file.
